Barney's Blog

Microsoft Won't Bribe Murdoch

Reports have been circulating that Microsoft would pay Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. to make content exclusive to Bing, keeping it off Google. The deal would satisfy two needs: Microsoft wants traffic and Murdoch is sick of Google stealing -- I mean aggregating -- his hard-earned content.

On the other hand, paying to build search market share isn't the best approach. Let the technology speak for itself, I say. Microsoft apparently agrees, and isn't currently pursuing such a deal, it now says.

That leaves the issue of aggregation very much on the table. The Internet is still the Wild West. I understand rogue sites grabbing content that isn't theirs, but Google is a huge public company, and its aggregation is killing the content that feeds it: When there are no journalists, what will become of Google? You tell me at dbarney@redmondmag.com.